JPH05247907A - Snow-melting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save energy by feeding great power at the time of the starting-up of snow-melting operation, to shorten a time for coming to a proper tempera ture, to heighten a speed for melting snow, and to enhance efficiency, and by feeding less power necessary only for keeping a proper road temperature after coming to the proper temperature. CONSTITUTION:A plurality or the plural groups of heat generating bodies are previously embedded to be arranged and to be uniformly heated near the surface of a snow-melting-objective area (a). At the starting time of snow melting operation, the connection of the heat generating bodies are set to form a DELTA-type, and from a three-phase AC power source (b), a power source is fed to the heat generating bodies. Them, to the heat generating bodies, great power is fed, and in a short time, the bodies come to a snow-melting proper road temperature. At the time point or immediately after they come to the snow-melting proper road temperature, by a timer (f), a relay (e) is worked, and the connection of the heat generating bodies is switched to a Y-type from the DELTA-type. As a result, power to be fed to the heat generating bodies is set to be of a proper quantity for keeping the snow-melting proper road temperature.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a snow melting device of a road heating system for removing snow from the surface of a road by utilizing heat generated by a heating element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A heating element is embedded in the vicinity of a pavement surface in advance as one of devices for removing snow on the pavement surface such as roads, passageways in front of buildings, parking lots, etc., and the snow is melted by heating it. There is a snow melting device that uses the road heating method. In addition, a snow melting device that performs automatic operation using a road heating method is also known. This automatic driving snow melting device, according to the signals from the snowfall sensor, snow cover sensor, temperature sensor, ground temperature sensor, road surface condition sensor, etc.
The snow melting operation is started and stopped. In this case, it is desirable that the road surface temperature suitable for snow melting can be reached in the shortest possible time from the start of operation. After reaching an appropriate road surface temperature, it is sufficient to supply only electric power for maintaining the temperature.

[0003]

However, the conventional snow melting apparatus using the road heating method has the following problems. That is, generally, in conventional road heating, the power supply amount from the start to the stop of the operation is almost constant, so if it is desired to shorten the arrival time to the appropriate snowmelt road surface temperature, It was necessary to increase the power. However, in this case,
After reaching the appropriate road surface temperature for snow melting, more power than necessary was continuously supplied, resulting in extra energy consumption. On the contrary, if energy consumption is to be avoided, it will take a long time to reach the appropriate snow melting road surface temperature, and effective snow melting work cannot be performed.

The present invention solves the problems of the prior art, supplies a large amount of power at the time of start-up of snow melting operation, shortens the time required to reach the appropriate temperature, speeds up the snow melting, increases the efficiency, and achieves the appropriate temperature. It is an object of the present invention to provide a snow melting device capable of achieving energy saving by supplying as little electric power as necessary to maintain an appropriate road surface temperature after reaching.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a plurality of groups or a plurality of groups buried in an arrangement such that heating is uniformly performed in the vicinity of the surface of a road or the like is provided. It is installed between a heating element, an AC power source that supplies power to the heating element, and the heating element and the AC power source, and switches the connection between the heating element terminal and the AC power source terminal to switch the wiring of the heating element. Provided is a snow melting device comprising: a switch means and a control panel having a switching instruction means for instructing the switch means to switch, and switching power supply to the heat generating element by switching connection of the heat generating element. ..

According to the present invention, in the above structure, the AC power source is a three-phase AC power source, and the switch means switches the connection of the heating element to a Δ type or a Y type snow melting device. Will be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, in the above structure, the AC power source is a single-phase AC power source, and the switch means switches the connection of the heating element to the V type or the N type. Will be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a snow melting apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, wherein the AC power supply is a single-phase AC power supply and the switch means switches the connection of the heating element in parallel or in series. To be done.

[0009]

In the snow melting apparatus of the present invention, at the time of start-up of the snow melting operation, electric power is supplied from the AC power source to the heating element as a connection so that a large amount of electric power is supplied to the heating element, and a suitable snow melting road surface is started in a short time from the start of operation. Allow to reach temperature. When the appropriate snow melting road surface temperature is reached, the switching instruction means gives the switching means an instruction to switch the wiring, and the switching means switches the wiring of the heating element so that electric power is supplied to the heating element at a smaller ratio than the above, and the appropriate snow melting road surface. Maintain temperature.
As a result, the snow melting operation can be made highly efficient and energy can be saved, and the above problems can be solved.

[0010]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a snow melting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a is a snow melting target region in which a plurality of or a plurality of groups of heating elements (not shown) are buried in an arrangement such that heating is uniformly performed near the surface of a road or the like.
The term “similar to a road” is meant to include not only roads that come and go such as automobiles, but also passages in front of buildings, road surfaces in parking lots, and the like that are subject to snow melting. As the heating element, for example, a nichrome wire, a carbon heating element, or the like can be used.As a method of installing the heating element, for example, a method of embedding or contacting with a concrete material, an asphalt material, a rubber material, a polymer material, a metal material, or the like is used. Can be taken. It is preferable to use a covered wire as the heating element, and for example, the heating wire is arranged in a geometric shape that is folded back in multiple layers so that the distance between adjacent wires is 10 to 15 cm with a length of 3 to 10 m. It is not limited to this. b is a three-phase AC power supply (200 V in this example) for supplying electric power to the heating element, and a control panel c is arranged between the three-phase AC power supply b and the heating element. Are various buttons d for instructing start and stop of operation, various sensors g for giving a signal of snowfall detection information such as snowfall, snowfall, temperature, ground temperature, road surface condition, a terminal of the heating element and a three-phase AC power supply b. A relay e that switches the connection between the terminals and a timer f that activates the relay e when a fixed time is counted from the start of operation are provided.

In this embodiment, the heating element is switched to the Δ type or Y type connection by the relay e as shown in FIG. In the figure, R1, R2, and R3 are three heating elements, 1 and 2 are terminals of the heating element R1, 3 and 4 are terminals of the heating element R2, and 5 and 6 are terminals of the heating element R3. (A) is a △ type connection,
FIG. 3B shows a state where Y-type connection is performed, and FIGS. 3A and 3B show terminals A, B, and C of the three-phase AC power supply b in the case of Δ-type connection and Y-type connection, respectively. And the heating element R1,
It is a figure which shows the switching of the connection between terminals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of R2 and R3. By this switching, the power supply amount when the Y-type connection is made can be 33% of the power supply amount when the Δ-type connection is made.

When performing the snow melting operation by the snow melting apparatus of the present embodiment, first, by operating various buttons d of the control panel c, the main switch is turned on to start the operation, and at the same time, the timer f is set to an appropriate snow melting road surface temperature. Set the scheduled switching time until it arrives. At the start of the operation, the wiring of the heating element is set to be a Δ type, and current is supplied to the heating element from the three-phase AC power supply b. As a result, a large amount of electric power is supplied to the heating element, and the snow melting appropriate road surface temperature is reached in a short time. The relay e is activated by the timer f at the time when the appropriate snow melting road surface temperature is reached or immediately thereafter, and the connection of the heating element is switched from the Δ type to the Y type. As a result, the electric power supplied to the heating element becomes 33% of that in the case of the Δ type connection, and the appropriate energy is supplied to maintain the appropriate snow melting road surface temperature.

Although three heating elements are used in the above, three groups of heating elements may be used to supply power to the heating elements of each group from A, B, and C of the three-phase AC power supply b. good.
Further, in the above, the relay is used to switch the connection between the terminal of the heating element and the terminal of the three-phase AC power source, but another switch having a function equivalent to this may be used. Further, in the above, the operation of the relay is performed by the timer, but other means such as operating the relay based on a signal from a temperature sensor provided near the road surface may be used.

Further, in the above, the operation was started and stopped by manually depressing various switches d provided on the control panel c, but a snowfall sensor, a snow sensor, an air temperature sensor, a ground temperature sensor, a road surface condition sensor, etc. g May be installed, and automatic operation may be performed based on signals from these.

Further, in the above description, the electric power is switched between 100% and 33% by using the heating elements of three or three groups, but by using the heating elements of six or six groups as shown in FIG. The (a) can be easily switched to 100% and the (b) can be switched to 25%.

Next, another embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In the snow melting apparatus of this embodiment, a single-phase AC power source is used instead of the three-phase AC power source in the apparatus of FIG. 1, and six or six groups of heating elements are used instead of three or three groups of heating elements.
The relay switches the wiring of the heating element from V type to N type as shown in FIG. R7 and R in Fig. 5
8, R9, R10, R11, R12 are heating elements, 13, 1
4 is a terminal of the heating element R7, 15 and 16 are terminals of the heating element R8, 17 and 18 are terminals of the heating element R9, 19 and 20 are terminals of the heating element R10, 21 and 22 are terminals of the heating element R11, 2
Reference numerals 3 and 24 are terminals of the heating element R12. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a state where V-type connection is performed and FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a state where N-type connection is performed. In the case of V-type connection in FIG. 5, for example, the terminal 14 of the heating element R7 and the terminal 15 of the heating element R8, the terminal 18 of the heating element R9 and the terminal 19 of the heating element R10, the terminal 22 of the heating element R11 and the heating element R12 are connected. Terminals 23 are connected respectively,
The terminals 13, 17, and 21 are connected to one terminal of the single-phase AC power supply, and the terminals 16, 20, and 24 are connected to the other terminal of the single-phase AC power supply. In the case of N-type wiring, from the state of FIG. 5A, the terminal 16 of the heating element R8 and the terminal 17 of the heating element R9 are further connected as shown in FIG.
8 and the terminal 19 of the heating element R10 are disconnected, and the heating element R
The terminal 20 of 10 and the terminal 21 of the heating element R11 are further connected, the terminals 13 and 24 are respectively connected to one terminal of the single-phase AC power supply, and the terminals 18 and 19 are respectively connected to the other terminals of the single-phase AC power supply. Connected. By this switching,
The amount of power supplied when the N-type connection is made can be 44% of the amount of power supply when the V-type connection is made.

Also in the case of this embodiment, similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the relay and the timer may be replaced by other means having the same function, or the automatic operation may be performed.

Further, in this embodiment, the electric power was switched between 100% and 44% by using six or six heating elements,
By using 12 or 12 groups of heating elements as shown in FIG. 6, (a) is 100% and (b) is 25% easily.
Can be switched to.

[0019]

According to the present invention, since the power supply from the AC power source to the heating element is switched by switching the wiring of the heating element, it is possible to perform snow melting operation with high efficiency and energy saving.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a snow melting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a diagram showing a Δ-type connection, and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a Y-type connection.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are diagrams showing connection switching between terminals of a three-phase AC power supply and terminals of a heating element in the case of Δ type connection and Y type connection, respectively.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a connection state when power is supplied from a three-phase AC power source to six or six heating elements.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a state where V-type connection is performed, and FIG. 5B is a diagram showing a state where N-type connection is performed.

FIG. 6 shows a state of connection when power is supplied to 12 or 12 groups of heating elements, (a) is a V-type connection,
(B) is a diagram showing a state where N-type connection is performed.

[Explanation of symbols]

a Snow melting target area in which a heating element is embedded b Three-phase AC power supply c Control panel d Various switches e Relay f Timer g Various sensors R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R
10, R11, R12 heating element 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 1
2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 2
0, 21, 22, 23, 24 Heating element terminals

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Syogo Sayama 2-17-1, Tsukikanto, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido Inside the Hokkaido Industrial Development Laboratory, Industrial Technology Institute (72) Kenichi Miura, Hohei-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido Tsukikanto 2-17-172-1 Industrial Technology Institute Hokkaido Industrial Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Masayoshi Sudo 2-200 Hanakawakita, Ishikari-cho, Ishikari-gun, Hokkaido (72) Inventor Yoshio Sakai 7-story, Hiragishi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido 16 chome 3-30

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of or a plurality of heating elements embedded in an arrangement such that heating is performed uniformly near the surface of a road or the like, an AC power supply for supplying electric power to the heating element, and a heating element. And a AC power supply, and is provided with switch means for switching the connection of the heating element by switching the connection between the terminal of the heating element and the terminal of the AC power supply, and switching instruction means for instructing the switching means to perform the switching. And a control panel, wherein the power supply to the heating element is switched by switching the wiring of the heating element. 2. The snow melting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the AC power source is a three-phase AC power source, and the switch means switches the connection of the heating element to a Δ type or a Y type. 3. The snow melting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the AC power source is a single-phase AC power source, and the switch means switches the connection of the heating element to V type or N type. 4. The snow melting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the AC power source is a single-phase AC power source, and the switch means switches the connection of the heating elements in parallel or in series.